Liking FPS's while hating Fallout 3

[Zer_]

Yesterday, I was with a bunch of friends/acquaintances at church before the 'service' started, and a few of them started talking about Nazi zombies and Call of Duty in general. One of them then said something along the lines of,
"You know what I'd love? A game where you go around, killing zombies, and it's an RPG, but it's a shooter too."

"Well actually," I said to him, "Fallout has zombies."

Hearing that, another guy said,
"I hate Fallout."

"What?? Why?" I asked. "It's a shooter RPG, and it has zombies in it. It's exactly what you were talking about." I'd expect to hear the average person say that, but not those who like first person shooters.

"Because man, it's so fake." One of them said as two or three other guys nodded in agreement. "You move around so stiff like you're playing a Nintendo game."

"I take offense to that." One of my friends jokingly said.

I tried to talk about how the controls on the PC are pretty good and that they probably played it on a console, and then about how there's way more to games than feeling "legit" with the gunplay, but I and them were on the edge of the nerd-overload meter as it was; the conversation was over.


What do any of you think about this? What would you have said to them (or to me) if you had been there?

He's right. Compared to a pure FPS where the gameplay is just very smooth Fallout 3 is a joke.

That's why I've always said, Fallout 3 is an RPG first, FPS second, which doesn't work. The FPS portion needs to be perfect. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Fallout 3, it's just not an uber amazing game is all.

This coming from someone who's played FPS games for 14 or so years.

 

[callmegreen]

Hmmm strange.. i feel the exact oposite.. i HATE *enter generic FPS here* but LOOVE me some fallout 3

 

[BlueAnubis]

"Let me guess, you could not aim without using the VATS, therefore you were killed often and did not play long enough to get used to it? So, what you really mean is 'I suck at this game, so it sucks!'"

I will admit, the FPS portion of Fallout was not without flaws. The little "crosshairs" on the screen were more to show you what you were looking at instead of where the bullets would go, so accuracy is more of a roll of the dice than a skill. But then again, RPG first FPS second.

 

[mrdude2010]

the console controls for fallout 3 are way better on the console...

 

[Rewdalf]

Fallout seemed like a game I would love when I heard of it.
But when I played it, it just didn't strike my fancy.
Sure I tried to like it, but for some reason I didn't...
Dunno why.
Love FPSs though.

 

[Vault boy Eddie]

I was playing Fallout 3 just now. I wouldn't say the controls(PC) are clunky, more deliberate, it takes a second to switch guns, as opposed to CoD since you mentioned it OP, where gun switching is almost instant. I like games where you don't insta switch items, makes you have to think ahead what you are going to do. Case in point, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising and ARMA II.

 

[Vern5]

As an FPS, Fallout 3 sucked a fat one. But, as a game, Fallout 3 was loads of endless fun. For me, Fallout has always been able to make me look past its flaws by presenting me with the beautiful aesthetic of a 50's society bombed back into the Dark Ages.

However, Bethesda has never really handled its action-element that well (although they are learning and growing in that regard) and it shows in how stiff the combat in Fallout 3 was. Sure, it wasn't terrible or completely unintuitive but, at the same time, there are much better shooters than Fallout 3.

All of this being said, if you were playing Fallout 3 solely because you like shooters then I assert that you were the unwitting victim of misleading advertising or poor pre-purchase product research.

 

[alittlepepper]

I've been playing Fallout 3 a lot lately, and calling it a FPS is, in my opinion, a bit of a fallacy. It had FPS elements, yes, but it's not anything like what I would imagine most people would expect in an FPS. It actually threw me off plenty of times. Headshotting something in an FPS almost always results in a kill, which is far from the case in Fallout. Fallout, despite the default first person perspective, has never really been a shooter of any sort. It's just not built that way, and I'm glad it isn't. Though I will say that compared to oblivion, fallout at least does give you more damage if you hit in certain areas, such as the head. Still, I'd say that's a cursory nod at best. Even if I am getting chased by a super mutant behemoth, I'd think that if I plug him in the face with a shotgun it should take off more than like 2 dashes of his health. I imagine that's why some fps fans would hate fallout 3.
For the record, I do and always have thought that Fallout 3 was a brilliantly done game. Easily one of my favorites ever.

 

[xMelior]

Dunno what to say. Same as your friend, I like RPGs and I love FPSs but I can't stand Fallout 3. Can't explain why...

 

[Woodsey]

Fallout 3 has shooting in it, its not a shooter.

I'd imagine they'd prefer something closer to Borderlands (if it wasn't so lifeless and oh-so-boring).

 

[Soviet Steve]

I like FPSs and I hate Fallout 3.

Though that has to do with Fallout 3 being to Fallout 2 what Renegade 3 on the ZX Spectrum was to Renegade 2.

 

[Wolfram23]

Maybe they need to play STALKER. It's a great shooter RPG... whereas Fallout 3 I'd call an RPG shooter.

 

[Seieko Pherdo]

I have the opposite opinion. I hate most FPS's but I enjoyed Fallout 3 a lot more than I expected to. And I only paid 12$ (plus tax) for it. The only recent FPS I played was Black Ops which I only liked because I was playing with a friend and got it for free.

 

[Cheesus333]

"Because man, it's so fake. [...] You move around so stiff like you're playing a Nintendo game."

...What does that even mean?

I honestly can't get my head round that. Stiff? Nintendo game? Fake - in comparison to what?

Can someone explain this to me?

 

[FalloutJack]

"Boys boys boys... The mechanics of any FPS are comparable to one anothers. I have an apple and you have an orange. The only difference is that I don't have to peel anything."

 

[Elfgore]

Okay well if your talking about Fallout 3, I would have to agree with them. Fallout 3 was a really bad FPS. Now if they were refering to Fallout New Vegas I would punch them across the face. New Vegas updated the FPS concept in Fallout (in my opinion) by a whole punch actually making it feel like a shooter.

 

[Painful illusion]

I don't hate fallout or anything like that but that game (fallout new vegas) does annoy me sometimes. The fps element just doesn't feel as polished as it could be. They spend more time on the rpg aspect of it without balancing them both out.

 

[AlternatePFG]

Shooting in Fallout 3 was pretty bad to be honest. It was alright in New Vegas, but nothing spectacular.

That's not why you play Fallout 3 though, you play it for the exploration and atmosphere.

 

[KarmaTheAlligator]

Different people have different taste, but that quote about it being so fake makes me scratch my head.

I also loved Fallout 3 while hating Oblivion because of the combat system in the latter where it takes 5 minutes on a good day to kill one enemy.

 

[badgersprite]

Well, if they put all their stats into strength and not agility, yeah they would be moving around pretty slowly. And as people have said, even though it has shooting in it, its FPS elements aren't exactly its strongest suit.

Some games aren't for everyone. We may know think they're awesome, but if someone doesn't like them, well that's their business.